On December 31, 1972, Roberto Clemente, a thirty-seven-year-old baseball player for
the Pittsburgh Pirates, boarded a DC-7 aircraft loaded with relief supplies for survivors of a catastrophic earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua. Concerned over reports that the Nicaraguan dictatorship was misusing shipments of aid, Clemente, a native of neighboring Puerto Rico, hoped his involvement would persuade the government to distribute relief packages to the more than 300,000 people affected by the disaster. Shortly after take off, the overloaded aircraft plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, just one mile from the Puerto Rican coast. Roberto Clemente’s body was never recovered.

On Monday, April 21, PBS’s AMERICAN EXPERIENCE premieres Roberto Clemente, a one-hour documentary about an exceptional baseball player and committed humanitarian, who challenged racial discrimination to become baseball’s first Latino superstar. From independent filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz, Clemente features interviews with Pulitzer Prizewinning authors David Maraniss (Clemente) and George F. Will (Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball), Clemente’s wife Vera, Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, and former teammates, to present an intimate and revealing portrait of a man whose passion and grace made him a legend. Go to www.pbs.org for more info. Also, check out www.robertoclemente.si.edu/english/index.htm.

I Just saw one of the biggest insults to the Puertorrican community in this garbage show. They had a scene in today’s 02/25/09 show at approximately 08:45 AM that by the means of using a man they made sure that who ever saw it saw the Puertorrican Community as a very disrespectful, uneducated and lying community. I’m a born and raised Puertorrican man residing in NYC for 30 years. I am a professional educated man that has helped the Hispanic community constantly. I have helped Fundacion Manos a la Ayuda, Hands Help Hands Foundation created by my sister bring trailers full of medical equipment for needed children to the Dominican Republic and Honduras. Roberto Clemente died in 1972 in an airplane accident bringing help to Nicaragua. I can go on an on giving examples of what the Puertorican Community has done for our culture and rights not only here in the USA but the entire world. I believe that the production of Despieta America as well as Univision owe the Puertorrican community an apology for this injustice. Call Univision and Demand such